The Most Ridiculous Job Interview Questions—and Expert Advice on How to Answer Them

You’re headed to a final interview for your dream job. You’ve spent hours on the company web site, you memorized the names of everyone on their board, and can carry on a conversation about their 10 most recent business announcements with ease. You’re totally prepared—except for that question about what part of a hamburger you’d want to be.

According to a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report, most Americans have held an average of 11 jobs by the time they’re in their mid-40s. That’s a lot of job interviews, and quite a bit of time spent on pre-interview prep. But in all of those hours spent researching potential employers, how much thought have you given to what flavor you’d be if you were a salad dressing? Or how many golf balls you can fit inside a school bus?

If You Were a [fill in the blank], What Would You Be?

You may have given some thought at some point in your life to what animal you’d want to be…or maybe even what type of tree. But a piece of a hamburger? Aimée Chiu was asked the burger question during her interview, and was told (after she got the job) that it wasn’t her answer that mattered, it was the way that she responded to an unexpected question.

Interviewees shouldn’t try to read too much into what their answers could say about their personalities or work ethics, according to Liz Bronson, a senior recruiter. “There’s a reason why an interviewer is asking you this type of question, and they’ve probably thought that they’ve come up with a really clever way of finding something out.” The trick is to keep your cool, and remember that there’s no “right” answer. More often it’s about your reaction to the question, your sense of humor, your creativity, and your thought process in answering it.

Another example: you’re having a conversation about your work experience—and the interviewer suddenly stops and asks you to name five different ways to utilize a pencil at work. Connie Taggart’s answer? “1) write 2) hairclip 3) place behind my ear 4) erase 5) throw it at someone to get their attention (just kidding on that one).”

The Brainteaser

Now infamous because of Google interviewers’ frequent use of brainteasers when screening potential employees, complex problem-solving questions are becoming increasingly common, especially for positions that may require critical or analytical thinking. Gwen R. Hall was asked how many golf balls fit in a 747, and the square root of 2,000. Dawn M Dixon, PHR was asked “why is a manhole cover round?”

The trick is to keep your cool, and remember that there’s no “right” answer.

Before you start worrying about your ability to compute complicated mathematical formulas on the spot, keep in mind that there’s more than one way to answer most brainteasers—and similar to the questions above, your reaction to the question says a lot about you as a candidate. “It’s perfectly acceptable to ask for a moment to think through the problem to develop your answer,” says Bronson, “which is so much better than answering right away and being all over the place.”

(The simplest answer to the manhole question? Manholes are round—so the covers need to be round so that they fit the openings.)

The Inappropriate

Even though questions about marriage, children and age are illegal, it doesn’t stop some interviewers from prodding a little too far into your personal life. One Connect member shared a story of a young woman she had mentored who was asked, "do you find it difficult to comport yourself professionally when you are so attractive?" The interviewee looked the man straight in the eye and said, "I’m sorry, I was under the impression that I was applying for an executive position," got up, and walked out. Another member shared a story about a friend in his early 60s, who was asked by an interviewer many years his junior: "Do you think you will live long enough to see this project to completion?”

Let’s face it—“Sometimes your interviewer is just a jerk,” says Bronson. “It’s best to answer directly, honestly, and move on with a smile that lets them know that they’ve overstepped their bounds. If you can, try to bring too-personal questions back to your professional experience.”

It’s also perfectly acceptable to tell someone that you’re not comfortable answering a question. The bottom line from Bronson? “You need to roll with the punches, and keep in mind that these are all great questions for YOU to use to evaluate whether a company is the right fit for you—just as much as the interviewer is determining if you are right for the position.”